I suppose it's time for another blog entry. I've been writing so much elsewhere that it's hard to remember to post something here from time to time.
This season I'm going with a new setup, a Salomon Special plus some Salomon boots, and for the bindings, some Flow NXT-ATs.
It's often said that you either love Flows or hate them. At this point, I'm somewhere in between, at least on these models.
The "mini-ratchet" thing with the NXTs is new to me. The old bindings, FR-11s, didn't have ratchets of any sort--you push down on the hunk of material that Flow calls the powerstrap over the top of your feet. These new bindings have two ratchets on both the left and right side of each foot, two closer to the toes, and two farther back. That's forced me to deal with ratchets, something I've never enjoyed.
On the upside, the ratchets do allow for a tighter fit, and the rear-entry lever for exiting (and reentering) the binding is still there.
There wasn't anything wrong with the old bindings, but like everything else, they were getting old. I figured it was time to update the bindings along with the boots and board. Doing so gives me a complete set of boots, binding and board that I can use as a backup. I've not done that since getting the new gear into place, though. Sometime later this season it will be interesting to to take both out and compare their performance on the same day.
